Dan Cirucci: Ashley, Jennings Join Kaufman/Hart B'way Revival

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Ashley, Jennings Join Kaufman/Hart B'way Revival

Producers of the upcoming Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play You Can’t Take It With You announce that Tony Award winner Elizabeth Ashley (Take Her, She’s Mine, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man) joins the production in the role of The Grand Duchess Olga and Byron Jennings (The Merchant of Venice, Inherit the Wind) joins in the role of Mr. Kirby.

Ashley and Jennings join previously announced cast members: Tony Award and Outer Critics’ Circle winner James Earl Jones (Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, Fences, The Great White Hope) as Martin Vanderhof, two-time Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Rose Byrne (“Damages,” Bridesmaids, Neighbors) as Alice Sycamore, Tony Award nominee Annaleigh Ashford (Kinky Boots, Wicked, “Masters of Sex”) as Essie Carmichael, Mark Linn-Baker (A Funny Thing…Forum, “Perfect Strangers,” My Favorite Year) as Paul Sycamore, Tony Award nominee Kristine Nielsen (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) as Penelope Sycamore, Tony Award nominee Reg Rogers (Holiday, The Royal Family) as Boris Kolenkhov, Theatre World Award winner Crystal A. Dickinson (Clybourne Park) as Rheba, three-time Drama Desk nomineeJulie Halston (Anything Goes, The Divine Sister) as Gay Wellington, Marc Damon Johnson (Lucky Guy) as Donald and Patrick Kerr (Stage Kiss, The Ritz) as Mr. De Pinna.

Previews will begin on August 26, 2014, at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48^th Street), with an opening night set for September 28,2014. The production will be directed by six-time Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk Award winner Scott Ellis (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Twelve Angry Men, 1776) and will play a limited run for 19 weeks only. Tickets are on sale by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visitingTelecharge.com.

It has also been previously announced that three-time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (two 2014 Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations, The Bridges of Madison County; Parade), will write original music for the production.

The design team includes: set design by Tony Award nominee David Rockwell (Kinky Boots, Hairspray), costume design by 2014 special Tony Award recipient, Jane Greenwood (Act One, Waiting for Godot), lighting design by two-time Tony Award winner Donald Holder (South Pacific, The Lion King), sound design by Jon Weston (The Bridges of Madison County) and hair and wig design by Tom Watson (Act One, Waiting for Godot.

You Can’t Take It With You will be produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Jam Theatricals, Dominion Pictures, Jay and Cindy Gutterman, Daryl Roth, Terry Schnuck, Jane Bergere, Caiola Productions, Rebecca Gold, LaRuffa Hinderliter, Gabrielle Palitz, Spisto & Kierstead, SunnySpot Productions, VenuWorks Theatricals, Jessica Genick and Will Trice.

Family can do crazy things to people. And the Sycamore family is a little crazy to begin with. James Earl Jones heads the wackiest household to ever hit Broadway in Kaufman and Hart’s Pulitzer Prize-winning classic You Can’t Take It With You. He plays wily Grandpa Vanderhof, leader of a happily eccentric gang of snake collectors, cunning revolutionaries, ballet dancers and skyrocket makers. But when the youngest daughter brings her fiancé and his buttoned-up parents over for dinner, that’s when the real fireworks start to fly.

The original production of the play opened at the Booth Theater on December 14, 1936, and played for 837 performances. The play won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

ELIZABETH ASHLEY. Notable Broadway credits include Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (2012 revival), August: Osage County, Dividing the Estate (also Off-B’way; Drama Desk nom.), Enchanted April, The Best Man (2000 Revival), Take Her, She’s Mine (Tony and Theatre World Awards), Barefoot in the Park (Tony nom.), The Skin of Our Teeth (opened the American Bi-Centennial at the Kennedy Center), Caesar and Cleopatra, Legend, Suddenly Last Summer, Agnes of God, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Tony nom.). Notable Off-Broadway credits include Red Devil Battery Sign, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, When She Danced, and the New York premiere of Albee's Me, Myself, and I. Also, Sweet Bird of Youth (Helen Hayes Award Nomination/Millennium Award), The Little Foxes, and Mrs. Warren's Profession all at the Shakespeare Theatre, Washington, D.C. Film: Dragnet, The Carpetbaggers, Ship of Fools (Golden Globe nom.), Happiness (Independent Spirit Award). TV includes the HBO series “Treme”, “Evening Shade” (Emmy nom.), "The Buccaneers"(PBS) “Saturday Night Live” (Host), “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” (Regular), “The Rope” (Cable ACE nom.), “The Two Mrs. Grenvilles,” etc. Recording: Lou Reed’s The Raven. Founding member/Board of Directors, American Film Institute and served on the first National Council Of The Arts under Presidents Kennedy & Johnson. Author: Actress: Postcards From the Road.

BYRON JENNINGS. Broadway: Macbeth, Arcadia, The Merchant of Venice, Inherit the Wind, Noises Off, Is He Dead?, Accent On Youth, Heartbreak House, A Touch of the Poet, Twelve Angry Men, The Man Who Came to Dinner, A Month in the Country, Sight Unseen, Carousel, Henry IV, Dinner at Eight, The Invention of Love, and two productions of Macbeth. OFF-BROADWAY: Waste, Don Juan, The Foreigner, Dealer’s Choice, Stuff Happens, Pericles, The Merchant of Venice, On the Open Road, The Twenty-Seventh Man, Ten Chimneys. FILM: Lincoln, Julie & Julia, Hamlet, Civil Action, The Ice Storm, A Time To Kill, Quiz Show, A Simple Twist of Fate, I’m Losing You.

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About Dan Cirucci

He's been cited by the late Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed across all media.

He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, a Save Jersey blog columnist, frequent guest on the Matt Rooney radio show and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV.

Inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame, for many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates.

Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post, Broad and Liberty and other print and online platforms.

A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission.

He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups.

In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. There he was one of the first teachers in the country to teach African-American history to inner city students. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Cirucci's passions include all things Italian, politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel.

He and his wife Carole have two grown children and seven grandchildren.

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